"Yuck Work" and Work/Life Balance for Teachers

Here’s a Marshall Memo article that is about “work/life balance.”  Some of the hints are exactly the same things that we came up with as a department when we did the work/life balance focus.  I learned a couple new things from it.  And, I happily learned the term “Yuck Work”!

 

Is It Possible to Be Happy 80 Percent of the Workday?

            In this Chronicle of Higher Education article, Trisalyn Nelson and Jessica Early, mid-career instructors at Arizona State University, noticed how much of the time they and their colleagues were griping about being overworked, overwhelmed, and stressed out. Nelson and Early decided to set a goal: having fun and being happy 80 percent of the average workday. They realized this wouldn’t happen just by wishing it and made a concerted effort to approach their jobs with a new perspective, carving out time for renewal, creativity, and risk, and figuring out a way to get the “yuck work” done without undermining well-being and productivity. They decided on four strategies:

            • Learn to say No to discretionary tasks. This is difficult, they acknowledge, because it might mean missing opportunities and being seen as lazy, negative, not a team player. “You are a pleaser and do not want to let anyone down,” say Nelson and Early. “You fear you won’t be asked again. You are tired, and saying yes seems like the path of least resistance.” But saying No is the key to being less overwhelmed – as long as there’s a thoughtful strategy behind it. Some questions for deciding without guilt:

-    Will this task help me understand my colleagues and how the organization works?

-    Does it allow me to make a meaningful contribution?

-    Does it energize me?

-    Will it help me grow professionally?

-    If it’s on the borderline, should I stall for time, hoping the job will be given to someone else in the meantime?

The downside of saying No is that your colleagues (or boss) may be unhappy with you. “The likability factor is particularly problematic for women,” say Nelson and Early, “as many of us have been acculturated to be pleasant.” But if you’re asked to do something that doesn’t meet the first four criteria above, being assertive is important. “Practice saying no,” they advise. “It gets easier.” And if you’re asked to do a clearly inappropriate task, you might go to a higher-up and make the case for being excused from it.

            • Schedule the stuff you hate to do. To reach 80-percent fun, it’s necessary to carve out time for the inevitable paperwork, complex problems, difficult people, and anxiety-producing decisions. “We close our office doors and go into robot mode,” say Nelson and Early, “crossing one small, annoying job after another off our lists. This feels amazing. With the yuck work clustered, our schedules become more available for creative work. It’s like cleaning the house to clear your mind.” Some of the tricks they use:

-    Use hand-written lists and get the tactile satisfaction of crossing things off.

-    Take a moment to notice how much you’ve accomplished.

-    Reward yourself for progress – a short walk, a cup of tea.

-    Do the unpleasant work in a pleasing setting, or use fun technology to do it.

Acceptance is also important. “Tedious or dreaded tasks might not seem like ‘real’ work,” they say. “But they are. Every job involves some degree of dull, irritating, yet necessary work.”

            • Get good at juggling. Educators’ days brim over with classroom instruction, necessary conversations with students, meetings, and service, all of which crowd out creative work, informal collegiality, exercise, and time to yourself. “Throw a family into this,” say Nelson and Early, “and all of these balls you’ve got in the air just get harder and harder to juggle.” Balance seems unattainable, but some insights can help:

-    Multitasking is ineffective and “hurts the brain,” they say. “Multitaskers make more mistakes and retain less information, and multitasking all the time is exhausting.”

-    It’s important to focus fully on a task and then put it aside and transition to another, if possible with a break in between (physical movement, time outdoors, human interaction). “Try to avoid social media and other distractions,” they advise. “What never works is checking Facebook.”

-    Chunk work so it can be done in pieces in the time available. “If you have only 15 minutes, do a 15-minute job,” they say. “Learn to be efficient in short bursts of time.”

Nelson and Early confess that doing all this is a daily challenge, but they’ve seen real improvement since embracing the 80-percent challenge.

            • Rest. “Some semesters just aren’t fun,” say Nelson and Early. “Some projects, people, and committees are just plain hard to deal with. You get worn out.” At that point, taking a break is vital: “Binge-watch something on Netflix. Plant a garden and talk to your tomatoes. Ride your bike. Hang a bird feeder. Bake cookies. Plan a trip. Read a book for enjoyment rather than for work. Sit on the floor and play with your kids or your pet…. Let your brain recharge. Careers are long. It all gets done.”

“4 Ways to Have More Fun as a Faculty Member” by Trisalyn Nelson and Jessica Early

in The Chronicle of Higher Education, December 6, 2019 (Vol. LXVI, #14, pp. A36-37),

https://www.chronicle.com/article/4-Ways-to-Have-More-Fun-as-a/247387; Nelson can be reached at Trisalyn.Nelson@asu.edu, Early at Jessica.Early@asu.edu.